Omen of the Stars: The Aftermath
by BrightfurOfThunderClan
Summary: What happened to the warrior Clans after the Great Battle was won?


Bumblestripe sat alone in the clearing. His head was held low in grief, and his heart felt as heavy as a stone.

_Wasn't I enough? I tried to make her happy! I really did! Why couldn't that have been enough?_

For several moons, Bumblestripe's heart had been fluttering like a ditzy butterfly over a she-cat named Dovewing. With her soft, smoky, pale-gray fur and gorgeous, pale-golden-green eyes, it was a wonder why every single ThunderClan bachelor hadn't fallen head-over-paws for her.

However, no matter how much Bumblestripe cared for Dovewing, the lovely warrior did not share his feelings. It was obvious she could only view that black-striped tom as nothing more than a good friend.

The bushes behind rustled. Bumblestripe looked over his shoulder, hope making his chest soar. Could it be Dovewing? Could she have changed her mind, and decided to start a real relationship with him?

But the cat that stepped out wasn't Dovewing. It was her sister, Ivypool.

"Bumblestripe, there you are!" the silver-and-white tabby called.

"Oh…hi," Bumblestripe replied, unable to hide his dejectedness. Letting out a tiny sigh, he returned his gaze to his paws.

"Blossomfall's been looking all over for you," Ivypool told him, "She wants to take Briarlight out into the territory, and hoped that you would like to come along."

Bumblestripe flicked his ear. "I guess that'd be fine. I'll come in a bit."

"All right." Bumblestripe heard Ivypool start to crawl back into the bushes, but she stopped. "Have you been out here all day?" she asked him.

"I guess."

"Is something wrong?" Ivypool pressed. She sat down next to him and wrapped her striped tail around her paws.

"N-Nothing," Bumblestripe choked out.

It was clear that Ivypool wasn't convinced. "It's Dovewing, isn't it?"

Bumblestripe's heart quickened. How could she have guessed? "Er…yes."

An awkward silence stretched out between them. Bumblestripe could just barely make out the sound of the bicolor she-cat's claws uncomfortably scraping the ground.

Ivypool broke the silence. "Things…" she stretched out the word as if she couldn't think of how to complete her sentence, "haven't really been working out between you, huh?"

Bumblestripe sighed. "Not exactly." He gritted his teeth. "Oh, Ivypool…it-it's horrible! To love a cat who doesn't love you back! Not in the way you want them to, at least."

He felt Ivypool's gaze soften. "Bumblestripe-"

He ignored her. "Everything's changed! ThunderClan-no-_all _the Clans have changed! We've lost so many cats! Even Firestar is gone!" he stopped himself when he realized he was rambling. "I just…I just want to go back in time. I want things to go back to the way they were."

Ivypool nodded. "You're not the only one."

Bumblestripe shot a glance at her. He instantly knew what she wanted to change. "The Dark Forest?"

"The Dark Forest," Ivypool echoed bitterly, "Oh, how could I have been so stupid?" She slashed at the ground, as if she was envisioning the face of Tigerstar in the dirt.

Bumblestripe wanted to divert the subject. "What was it like?" he interrogated her, "To be around all those evil cats every night? It must've been terrible."

"It wasn't that bad to begin with," Ivypool explained, "It all started when I was an apprentice. Not long after Dovewing and Lionblaze returned from the beaver patrol, actually. I remember being in a sunny meadow, and meeting a tom that I'd never seen before. He told me his name was Hawkfrost, and he promised to teach me special battles moves in my dreams. Wanting to impress my Clan, I accepted." Letting out a long sigh, she finished, "I had no idea what I was being dragged into."

Bumblestripe felt a pang of sympathy for the tabby-and-white. "Dovewing must've been worried sick." At the thought of his almost lover, his sorrowfulness returned, and he lowered his head.

He could feel Ivypool staring sympathetically at him. "Listen, Bumblestripe," she mewed gently, "Do you remember when we were doing a group-battle-practice, and you were upset that Briarlight couldn't join in because of her injury?"

"Yes," he replied bluntly.

"Do you remember how I comforted you?"

Bumblestripe looked up at her.

_How could I forget?_

"Of course. You had raised my spirits back to where they should've been. I'd have been a sorrowful mess if it wasn't for you, Ivypool."

_Like now._

"Well," Ivypool began, and from the look in her dark-blue eyes, she was beginning to become a little flustered. "I did it because you were upset, obviously. And I…I-I hate to see you upset, Bumblestripe. I just can't bear to see your heart so low, when it should be soaring high above the clouds."

Bumblestripe felt himself start to crack a smile. He couldn't help but feel touched.

"You can't let this whole Dovewing thing pull you down. Just as you didn't let the whole Briarlight thing pull you down. You got back up onto your paws and kept on moving through life."

"Yeah, well…" Bumblestripe's voice faltered. "That…That was different."

Ivypool blinked. "Different? How?"

"I don't know. It-It just is." He sighed. "Ever since Dovewing rejected me, I…I've just felt so…"

Ivypool gently nudged him. "So…what?"

"So alone."

At that moment, Bumblestripe ruefully let the image of Dovewing slip into his mind. That soft fur…those dazzling eyes…all of that was just out of his desperate grasp.

_How can I ever replace her?_

Something snapped him back to reality –something truly unexpected. Ivypool had placed her paw onto his. He looked questioningly up at her. Their eyes locked onto each other; blue sinking into amber, and vice versa. Sunlight shimmered down from the treetops and landed onto Ivypool's sleek pelt, and Bumblestripe felt as though he were standing in front of a breathtaking, silver-white flame.

"You aren't alone anymore, Bumblestripe," Ivypool murmured, "You never were."

In that split second, something seemed to crackle –like lightning -between to two tabbies. That swift patter of his heart that Bumblestripe felt when he first fell in love with Dovewing returned to him. However, this feeling was different. Ivypool had done something that Dovewing hadn't: she had comforted him, twice now, when he most needed it. That being so, it made this feeling deeper…stronger.

_I always thought a light was shining on the cat that would always be there for me. Perhaps I've been looking at the wrong light?_

Bumblestripe leaned forward and touched his nose to Ivypool's. "Thank you, Ivypool."

Ivypool brushed his head, neck, shoulders with her cheek. "It was just a little talk," she purred.

"Oh, no, it was more than a little talk. Much more."

Bumblestripe twined his tail with Ivypool's. He hadn't gotten the chance to join Blossomfall and Briarlight. Then, he was locked in a distant world.

A world that only he and Ivypool shared.

**NOTE: Well, what'd you all think? If you couldn't tell, I'm am IvyXBumble shipper, and now that Dovewing has rejected Bumblestripe…Anyway, don't worry, I'll still be working on Mosskit's Heartbeat. I'll put up a second chapter fairly soon (it's gonna be about Hollyleaf), and maybe something about LionXCinder, but after that, it's up to you all what I add here. Brightfur, out!**


End file.
